MP Don Touhig has written to his constituents as the final curtain on expenses is lifted.

The MP for Islwyn has been defending his claims since they began to leak into the public domain.

And Mr Touhig, who now chairs the members’ allowances committee – which was set up to scrutinise the expenses process – believes the current system “does not command the necessary public confidence”.

Mr Touhig, whose annual salary stands at £78,266, has seen his second home claim rise slowly from £20,902 in 2004/5 to £23,080 in 2007/8.

When becoming a minister in 1999, he designated his Blackwood home as his second home because “ministers were required to designate their main home as London”.

In April 2007, he changed this second home allowance to a £375,000 Westminster flat to coincide with no longer being a minister – a flat he had just bought with his own money, but the payment on his interest-only mortgage would be eligible for the second homes allowance.

Speaking to The Rhymney Valley Express as he fielded questions over the resulting mortgage claim raise from £445 to £1,449, he said his food claim drops and other claim cutbacks made up the difference.

“I believe that home is where your family is, and for me that is here in Wales,” said Mr Touhig.

“To me it is always your constituency where you make your home, and when I was no longer a minister in 2006, I jumped at the chance to make it my first home.

“I was told by a financial adviser that the best thing to do was to take out an interest-only mortgage.

“David Cameron has the same kind of mortgage.”

Before changing his designated second home, Mr Touhig made several claims for his Blackwood property for decorating and maintenance.

These included £480 for Sandtex and Sandolin to preserve the outside of the house in September 2005, a November 2006 claim for £715.60 to repair defective rendering, and two 2006 claims totalling £1,125 to emulsion many of the rooms.

Mr Touhig said these were perfectly within the guidelines set out in the Green Book – the original expenses claim bible – under section 2.1.3.5, which allows for second home claims on “maintenance, services, cleaning [...] and decoration”.

He also claimed £280 for the planting of eight leylandii bushes in 2006 – a claim he agrees the fees office were correct to turn down.

Explaining his stance on the expenses on his constituency website, Mr Touhig said he has published a breakdown of his allowances for the last seven years, and said it was important to take the opportunity to be answerable to his constituents.

“The House of Commons has published all MPs' allowances. For me, it is of the utmost importance that our democracy is transparent and accountable,” he said.

“In addition to this, I want to give people a full explanation of those claims.

“I am fully supportive of the Prime Minister's plans for an independent parliamentary standards authority and a statutory code of conduct for MPs.”